Apple released the iPhone SE as a kind response to all iPhone lovers who didn’t like the new models sporting large screens, and the device soon became a best-seller keeping overall iPhone sales pretty high and keeping Apple’s part of the smartphone market pretty intact. The Mi 5s is an upgrade of this years’ Xiaomi’s flagship device bringing all-metal body and a new Snapdragon 821 SoC. Let’s see how the two devices compare.
Dimensions, Design
The iPhone SE is a dream phone for all users wanting a top of the line performance packed in a compact case. The phone measures just 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm, a perfect device to use with just one hand. The design follows the steps of the iPhone 5/5s, the prettiest iPhone models of all times, making the iPhone SE one of the most attractive smartphones around.
Xiaomi Mi 5s features a 5.15-inches screen, much larger than a 4-inch display found on the iPhone SE. the Mi 5s is still pretty compact for its screen size, measuring 145.6 x 70.3 x 8.3 mm. Although Xiaomi introduced the all-metal body, the Mi 5s looks a bit less attractive than the regular Mi 5.
Hardware, Display
The iPhone SE is packed with a very powerful Apple A9 chipset featured on iPhone 6s/6s Plus (Dual-core 1.84 GHz Twister along with PowerVR GT7600) offering a ton of performance. Coupled with 2 gigs of RAM and a choice between 16 GB or 64 GB of internal storage, the iPhone SE is one heck of a small-form smartphone. It scores around 134,000 points, almost the same as the iPhone 6s can reach, offering a stellar performance.
On the other side, we have Xiaomi Mi 5s, a smartphone powered by the newest Snapdragon 821 chipset (2×2.15 GHz Kryo & 2×1.6 GHz Kryo coupled with Adreno 530 GPU) which will provide enough power for any kind of task. The phone comes in two flavors; you can choose between 3 gigs of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM and 128 gigabytes of internal storage. All in all, Xiaomi 5s is a beast of a smartphone, in line with other flagships released in 2016.
The iPhone SE comes with a small, 4-inch IPS LCD display offering a resolution of 640 x 1136 pixels (326ppi pixel density). We can say how the screen is too small, but the iPhone SE is made for people wanting a small for factor smartphone that can match the performance of flagship devices. So if you want a phone fitting into that description, the iPhone SE is a perfect choice.
The Mi 5s features a solid 5.15-inches IPS LCD screen sporting a 1080p resolution (428 ppi pixel density). Natural colors, high viewing angles, and a perfect size are the strongest sides of the screen.
Camera
The iPhone SE features the same 12 MP (f/2.2) camera sensor seen on the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. The camera is more than solid, capable of taking impressive photos, with a less than stellar performance in low light conditions. It features phase detection autofocus, and a dual-LED flash, and is capable of taking 2160p (4K)@30fps videos. The front facing camera counts 1.2 MP, good enough for video calls.
Xiaomi 5s comes with a 12 MP (f/2.0) main camera sensor, capable of snapping excellent photos (take a look at the gallery of photos made with the Mi 5s). The camera supports phase detection autofocus and a dual-LED flash. It can record videos at 2160P resolution with 30 frames-per-second as well as 1080p@120fps video recordings. Selfie camera counts 4 MP (f/2.0) capable of recording 1080p videos.
Battery, Software
The iPhone SE comes with a humble 1624 mAh battery, but since the phone comes with a 4-inch screen, the battery capacity is more than enough. The Mi 5s is equipped with a solid 3200 mAh battery and also supports Quick Charge 3.0 technology.
Both models have a fingerprint sensor, the Mi 5s comes with Android Marshmallow while the iPhone SE runs on iOS 9, and can be upgraded to iOS 10.
Conclusion
If wanting to go back on the small screen smartphone but don’t want to make any performance compromises, the iPhone SE is a perfect device for you. On the other hand, the Mi 5s is targeted at users wanting a top of the line hardware along with an excellent camera, for less money than what other flagships are selling for. Both devices are great but are meant for completely different kinds of users.